Despite a wave of protests, the University of Minnesota Board of Regents voted to go ahead with a plan to invest in the controversial Mount Graham telescope project in Arizona.
The telescope project, located on a mountain considered sacred by the San Carlos Apache Nation of Arizona, has been a hot topic of debate and protest in Minnesota for more than a year. These protests culminated in a 40-minute sit-in preceding the Board of Regents 7-2 vote to join the project.
Vice chair of the Board of Regents, Robert Bergland, said that for the most part the sit-in was orderly. He said the board asked police officers to be present, but that no arrests were made.
Bergland also said that after the vote was taken, though, the protestors became more vocal about their objections to the project. The board, not wishing to make the issue any more difficult, decided to cut the meeting short, he said.
“We just thought it would be a good idea to walk out,” Bergland said.
Bergland, who voted to invest in the project, said that during his career he has on many occasions been involved with the local Native American tribes of Minnesota and has gained a great respect for the importance of their traditions. Nonetheless, he said he felt it was a good idea for the university to invest in the project.
“I had a certain amount of unease with this,” he said. “But, in this case I thought [the protestors’] argument just wasn’t strong enough.”
Bergland said the telescope project, which is headed by the University of Arizona, has been in the works for several years and is scheduled to be completed in 2004. Though the telescope is not yet operational, the building on Mount Graham has been underway for some time.
Bergland said that before the University of Arizona went ahead with development, it entered into an agreement with an Arizona tribal council that allowed the university to build as long as certain interests of the tribe were met.
Among these interests was a thorough review of the land to see if any ancient artifacts were present. He said that some Indian burial grounds were found, but not on the mountain where the telescope was to be built.
Bergland also said that when the Board of Regents heard of protests coming from a group inside the Apache tribe, the members wanted to make sure that the tribe would not be blocked from using the area.
“We made sure that access to the mountain top was guaranteed,” said Bergland. He added, “[The protestors] wanted the whole thing removed. That’s just not a do-able option because the whole thing’s already built.”
Allison Rhody, chair of student representatives to the Board of Regents, said that she did not support the vote’s outcome. She said protestors told her there might have been other options than investing in the telescope on Mount Graham.
Among these options was the possible use of other telescopes on less-controversial land.
Rhody said that she felt because of this type of information she lobbied for a last-minute vote delay.
“I would have liked to see [the board] table the vote for another month,” Rhody said. “Everything that was happening at the time was just overwhelming.”
